5 Things

For me, it's simple.  I look at the 5 things that strike me as the fundamental ways to judge a candidate.

In the 2008 election, most of the "5 things" were about what Dubya had brought to the stage, things I didn't think McCain could change:

Thus, 3 things I didn't believe in and 2 things I thought Obama brought to the table:

       1.  The war in Iraq.  I was against it from the start  Both candidates said they would follow
               through in bringing the troops home, McCain a little more reluctant.  The war in Iraq
               was wrong, and ultimately, the biggest American shame of the decade.

       2.  Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.... propelled as "bringing us to new economic heights", these
               tax cuts, which most people don't realize, were heavily weighed to the wealthy, reduced the
               revenue of this country substantially, without maintaining jobs, and the deficit grew
              exorbitantly.

       3.   Social security privatization.  Bush wanted it.  He backed off, and so did the party, as his
              unpopularity grew.  One voice that did not back off?  Paul Ryan.  He had a much starker
              plan right through 2010.  And, if the party had not told him to "get off it", he would have
              continued.  SS is a fairly easy fix... for years, the upper income limit grew, until it reached
              $107,000, and there it stayed for 3 years.  In 2012, it grew to $110,000.  If you are the CEO
              of Citibank, you pay less than $7.000 in SS tax, and if you make $110,000, you pay the same
              amount.  Changing that is pretty simplistic.  There are other simple changes that will
              elongate the fund to get past the baby boomer generation. 

      4.    Torture.  I believed Obama when he said he would call a halt.  And he did.  Nuff said.

      5.    The economic morass.  It was such a mess at the end of 2007.  I was so scared.  We all were.
              And though there has been no magic, I believed that Obama would do more and faster than
              McCain.  And he did.  The stimulus worked.  The auto bailout worked.  I'm not sure when
\             McCain would have been able to make a dent.


And this year, the 5 are very different.


      1.   Taxation.  Romney's plan is ridiculous.  Both men seem poised to take on revision of the tax
             code, but you can't start that by cutting taxes 20% across the board.  And, if that happens,
             watch the deficit, and the wholesale ax applied to domestic programs we need.

      2.    Defense.  Romney is planning to spend big.  Right now, Obama plans to spend $550 billion
              without sequestration... sequestration dictates $500 billion.  Romney wants to go to $750
               billion.  At the height of the Cold War, Reagan was at $600 billion.  Why?

      3.   Reproductive rights.  I don't agree with taxation and defense spending.  But I'm afraid of the
            changes in reproductive rights for women.  This is my number 1 issue of the year.  Do I want
            my daughter and granddaughters to be able to get healthcare if they need Planned Parenthood
            to do so?  Yes.  I believe in the right to choose for abortion.  Perhaps the majority of the
            public does not.  But don't be fooled by Romney's position that he would allow it for rape,
            incest, or health of the mother.  That will last one day.  Ryan's much stricter position... no
            abortion at all, and little, if any, contraception, at all, will be the stage on which their doom
            will be set if they are elected.  They will go in that direction, as have most of the Republican
            dominated states.  And it will be their downfall.  They are rolling back time, by 40 years,
            for women.  They might survive the backlash for a year or so... but it will not last.  Women
             will fight for these rights in the same way that civil rights for blacks was the battleground
             of the 60's.  And it will destroy any Romney presidency. 

      4.   Immigration.  I believe in the Dream Act.  I believe in the tightening of borders that we have
             accomplished in the past 4 years.  Beyond that, I think either party will struggle with
             Immigration reform, until we find a way to make it work, stumbling along as we usually do.
             Romney and Ryan absolutely do not support the Dream Act.  And they have no solution for
             1.5 million Americans who are trapped. 

      5.   Jobs.   There is nothing wrong with direct jobs legislation.  The Jobs Act of 2011 is a good
              start and Republicans blocked it.  All of Mitt's plans are to let the money he gives back to
              the wealthy propel jobs.  If the economy grows, that will happen, regardless of new tax cuts. 
              Specific jobs plans make sense.  Had we passed the Jobs Act, and
              created 1.5 million jobs, we would be ready for round 2 right now. 

OLC - Larger than life

The OLC, the federal Office of Legal Counsel has played a big role behind the scenes in the Bush constellation; more so than any other office in terms of impact. I've been reading and have been impressed by the positions taken, the top form rhetoric, and the blunt integrity of the newly named OLC chief to be, Dawn Johnsen. The "Notes From a Burning House" blog, featured Greenwald's article about her position on torture and the American stance on it... I had read it earlier, and here is the same link that Algernon used.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/05/olc/

And just what is Johnsen passionate about? Her words:

"whenever any government or people act lawlessly, on whatever scale, questions of atonement and remedy and prevention must be confronted. And fundamental to any meaningful answer is transparency about the wrong committed. . . ."

Not a lot of people know about John Yoo, but he is featured in the most recent biography of Dick Cheney. Yoo was of counsel at the OLC, and was utilized to write neocom treatises of "the law" that allowed Cheney and his own counsel, David Addington (think Darth Vader) to promote the use of torture to the President. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who knew nothing about this area of the law, went along for the ride.

That's Yoo, above. And featured, from his now famous (infamous?) "torture memoes" are his words:

"If a government defendant were to harm an enemy combatant during an interrogation in a manner that might arguably violate a criminal prohibition, he would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the al Qaeda terrorist network. In that case, we believe that he could argue that the executive branch's constitutional authority to protect the nation from attack justified his actions."

~~~~

The memo concludes......" that foreign enemy combatants held overseas do not have defendants' rights or protections from cruel and unusual punishment that U.S. citizens have under the Constitution. It also says that Congress 'cannot interfere with the president's exercise of his authority as commander in chief to control the conduct of operations during a war."

~~~~

And thus the simple concepts, torture is OK, in times of war, the executive branch has imperial powers. John Yoo. Tool of Cheney and Addington. Absolutely heinous. Most people want to be remembered for the words they wrote in their lifetimes. Yoo will spend a lifetime living them down.